No.
106, March 2004
Must-Win Battles
Thomas Malnight Another month, another initiative. Or so it
Professor of Strategy seems to embattled managers trying to win in
and International their markets and at the same time deal with
Management initiative after initiative coming from corporate
office, the quality manager, the new executive next
door, and so on. Each initiative, taken alone, may
make sense. But too many unrelated initiatives
lead to a loss of focus and energy. Each gets half-
hearted attention, and those that really deserve a
high level of commitment do not get it. As one
Peter Killing executive stated:Until we have our own agenda,
Professor of Strategy we are at the mercy of others and their agendas.
and International It is easier to say NO to a continuing stream of
Management requests when we have a clear understanding of
what we will lose by diverting our resources and
attention.
Here we will describe a process to create focus
and organizational energy by doing fewer things
but doing them better.We call these few things
with your must-win battles (MWBs)1 and the
name says it all.These are the battles that your
Tracey Keys, organization absolutely needs to win if you are
IMD Research Associate to achieve your key objectives.
The MWB process builds on the old stuff - not just to one part of the organization, but to
the tried and tested strategic planning tools.
The difference is that it recognizes the absolute
necessity to tie together these intellectual
inputs with the organizations emotional energy
to craft a strategy that works in practice. At the
end of the day it is people that make or break a
strategy. Too frequently there are gaps between
strategic thinking and implementation. The
1 The Must Win Battle process was
process focuses management on the key
first used at IMD in a program
conducted in cooperation with
priorities, but more importantly identifies how
Sylvia DeVolge of Hay and Annie they as a team and individually can contribute to
McKee, previously of Hay achieving these goals through tangible actions.
and now with the Teleos
Leadership Institute. The MWB process is exciting. It creates a much
higher level of personal commitment to
winning the battles ahead than a normal
strategy review and priority setting exercise.
This commitment is the key to success.
What are Must-Win Battles
(MWBs)?
Must-win battles are the three to five key
battles that your organization must win to
achieve its key objectives. Once established,
MWBs become the focal point of the
organization. They drive actions that the top
team can track, monitor and discuss each time
they meet. MWBs get priority when it comes
to resource allocation and organizational
decisions. But be careful: if you create more than
three to five MWBs, each will diminish in
importance and your organizations energies
will be dispersed. Be disciplined and be tough.
Its all about Impact: The only criterion for
determining what is and is not an MWB, is
impact. The simple question is: if we win this
battle, what difference will it make?The answer
has to be that it would make a huge difference
achieving overall collective objectives. If a MWB
is not perceived by everyone in the
organization as having a major impact on value
creation, they will not give it their full
commitment.
The Marketplace is the Battleground:
Managers are often tempted to create MWBs
that address internal challenges. Dont do it. If
you create five MWBs, not more than one
should be internally focused.The internal battles
too often reflect the passion of executives who
are competing among themselves for resources
and attention. The point is to win and create
value in the marketplace.
 Must-Win Battles
No Inspiration, No Energy: Your MWBs
should be exciting - real challenges create real
energy. Obviously, you do not want your
people charging off on hopeless quests that are
impossible to win, but for maximum impact a
MWB should focus on a collective objective
that might previously have been thought
impossible. And it must have real meaning to
the whole organization. If your MWBs are not
inspirational, the commitment and trade-offs
required to win them will be difficult to maintain
over time. One executive at the end of a
MWB session said: Intellectually we have been
here before. We know what needs to be done.
The challenge will be to maintain the energy
and commitment that we have developed, and
to make the individual sacrifices necessary to do
what we know we need to do.
Tangible Battles Drive Action: MWBs
need to be tangible and specific enough for you
to define the actions needed to win and the
measures of success. MWBs that say: we must
innovate more! or get closer to customers!
or reduce costs! are not useful.Your MWBs
need to apply directly to your markets and your
organization. If you find it difficult to create
explicit targets and a list of actions required to
win your battles, chances are your MWBs are
not sufficiently specific and tangible.
Must Dos Mean Must Stops: The list
of actions required to win your must-win
battles (Must Dos), should be paired with a
list of other actions that must be stopped in
order to minimize interference or free up
resources (Must Stops). Creating the must-
Identifying Must-Win Battles
Intellectual Inputs
Organizational Capabilities
Our resources, and our ability to use
Company Objectives those resources to best effect
The hard profit and growth results that we
have promised our shareholders
Competitive Marketplace
Our changing markets, our changing
competition, suppliers, regulators
Must -Win Battles
Figure 1
2
dos is usually exciting, but building a must-stop
list will be painful for those whose initiatives are
being cut. But this is a vital part of the process -
do not avoid it.
What Inputs Do you Need?
To develop MWBs you need to focus on five
factors (Figure1).These are:(1) an assessment
of your competitive marketplace (including
activities such as Getting into the Heads and
Hearts of Competitors and Customers), (2)
your companys objectives (including the hard
financial and business targets set for the firm or
unit), (3) a realistic and challenging assessment
of the companys current and required
organizational capabilities, (4) the collective
ambition of the top management team
(representing the teams desired legacy: the
type of business and organization they wish to
create and leave behind), and (5) the personal
experience and ambition of the executives that
will drive the MWBs forward (representing the
emotional energy that will need to be
harnessed to ensure action).
For managers used to strategic analyses, the first
four factors are not new, and we strongly
recommend that you dont reinvent the wheel:
pull in prior thinking on strategy, objectives and
organizational capabilities. For example, when
setting up facilities for MWB discussions, we
create a wall of posters summarizing the firms
existing strategy data and analyses. The
challenge to the group is to focus on dialogue
and decision making, using insights from that
analysis, but not revisiting it.
Emotional Inputs
Collective Ambition
What we want for ourselves: the legacy we want to
leave, the type of organization we want to create
Personal History/Agenda
What we as individuals believe and value, our
experience, our relationships
The Personal History/agenda factor is often
avoided in strategy discussions. But it is critical to
get the emotional energy out into the open so
that you can focus it on driving forward rather
than blocking. Again, it is people that make a
strategy work, not intellectual brilliance alone.
If you are not confident that you have sufficient
or the right inputs upfront, get these before you
start the MWB process. However, recognize
that the process itself will draw out the personal
history and agendas of the participants this is
not something you can prepare ahead of time.
How Do You Get the Process
Going?
The MWB process itself needs to be both
intellectually rigorous and emotionally involving,
so that the chosen battles will be the right ones
for the organization, and passionately
committed to by the managers who will have to
win them.
Once you have the right inputs, you need to set
the right context by inviting the right
participants. The people who will need to win
your MWBs should be the same ones who
discuss, debate, and agree on the battles in the
first place. This usually means a fairly wide
involvement in the process; we typically see
MWB sessions with 25-50 people. Handling
large groups can be difficult as the process
generally creates individual winners and losers -
but it is well worth it in terms of ownership of
the end result.
The final critical factor in preparation is ensuring
that the leader leads. The process has to be a
direct discussion between leaders and their
teams. The leadership role must not go to an
academic or consultant. Outside support can
help, because MWB discussions will include
heavy debate,the need to challenge participants,
and a drive for emotional commitment - all of
which can be a significant challenge to many
leaders. From personal experience, the most
critical roles for outsiders are adjusting the
discussion mid-stream when things do not
unfold as planned, and giving the leader the
confidence to continue open discussion, even
when he or she disagrees with what is being said.
Flexibility,trust and partnership are key but the
leader always drives.
When the stage is set, we have found the
guidelines below useful as the process itself gets
underway:
Allow Debate and Decide Together: The
most successful MWB sessions often contain a
crisis or period of sharp conflict. These arise
when participants test the transparency and
responsiveness of the process, or raise issues on
which there is strong disagreement. Do not
become defensive or try to stifle these
discussions, but openly address and resolve
them as part of the process. Your response -
good or bad - will be a powerful message,
demonstrating in practice how future
disagreements will be handled.
Build the Team and the Agenda
Together: Many organizations separate
strategic work (intellectual work on hard
issues) from team building (interactive work
on soft issues). Your process should take an
integrated approach, using team-building
discussions both prior to and during your MWB
discussions to promote more meaningful
dialogue and increase ownership of the MWB
decisions.You build the team and the agenda at
the same time.
Align Individuals Actions and
Behaviors to the Collective Agenda:
Towards the end of your MWB process you
should identify the behaviors that will be
required to win your must-win battles - both
at a team and an individual level. This means
identifying acceptable and unacceptable
behaviors, for which members will in future
hold each other accountable.
Define the Follow-up in the Process,
and Ensure Follow-up from the Top:
Make sure you measure and follow-up on the
actions you have identified to make the MWBs
happen - or dont start in the first place. In
successful processes, we have found it
important to solicit feedback on progress from
the original participants at regular intervals
(e.g. after six months). This should address
progress on the agenda (including factors
www.imd.ch
supporting or hindering progress), the
leadership team (in terms of owning and
leading the agenda), and team members (in
terms of sticking to both action and behavior
commitments).
3
 Must-Win Battles
What Do You Get at the End?
A successful MWB process will result in clarity
and commitment to real actions. The
organization will know what it must do to win
and the individuals and teams within it will know
what their specific contributions will be to the
actions needed. Senior management will know
what success looks like and how to keep track
of progress.
Even when behaviours have to change or
resources have to be reallocated, the sheer
empowerment of knowing what is important
and where to focus your energy drives huge
enthusiasm for shared objectives. The executive
in paragraph one of this paper would find it
easier to say YES as well as NO.
Unilever in Africa
Unilevers African Regional Group had a long
history of success, boasting leadership positions
in most of its major product categories.
Underlying this was deep local market
knowledge, a high quality local talent base,
extensive distribution networks, and a
consistent flow of innovations. But in 2001,
regional management recognized that many of
its sources of success could be imitated by
competitors. Future success would require a
new focus that would create new energy.
The first result was a new vision: We will
touch the lives of all Africans by better
anticipating and fulfilling their cleaning,
caring, and nutritional needs, everyday,
everywhere. This was backed up by a specific
target: To double the sales in Africa in five
years from 1.8 bil. to 3.6 bil. and to
deliver above Unilever average value
creation. Aspirational in terms of its financial
and business objectives, these statements were
also inspirational to local employees who
wanted to have a positive impact on their
societies.
The five must-win battles developed by the
regional leadership team to achieve these
collective objectives were:
Everywhere (Ensure Unilever Brands are
available everywhere in Africa)
Everyone, Everyday for Life (Provide for the
everyday needs of all Africans)
Priority Pillars for Growth (Focus resources
around three key product categories critical for
future growth)
Winning West Africa (Meeting the potential of
Nigeria, Ghana and Francophone West Africa)
Simply the Best (About having the best people
in the best business leadership, culture and
communication
The first MWB required a concerted effort to
enter currently unserved markets. The second
meant building an additional 1 billion business
in low-priced popular products. The third
focused regional resources on product
categories with the greatest long-term
potential, even if they did not reflect corporate
priorities in other markets. The fourth involved
rebalancing the regional portfolio, reducing
dependence on South Africa. The final MWB
involved creating ways of working that would
help the Group win the first four MWBs. Each
MWB included explicit, measurable targets, and
a tangible set of actions required to win the
battle.
Winning the MWBs would require managers
who had been focused on delivering results
within their territory to co-operate more
broadly across the region. Some executives
would become more dependent on others to
meet their local objectives, losing much-valued
independence. However, everyone realized
that the collective opportunity could not be
reached if each country continued to operate
alone. The commitment to a new way of
working was made.
IMD
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Editor: Roger Whittle
IMD, March 2004. No part of this publication may
be reproduced without written authorization.